2017 began in relative quiet. The Syrian civil war, having lasted 6 years, is in a cease-fire. Americans see the inauguration of Donald Trump as President on January 20th. The Arctic begins 2017 with unusually warm weather patterns with regions of Siberia unusually cold. This year promises to be the year of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and increased robotic automation. Britain is divided by last year's Brexit vote. The United States is divided over the results of the Presidential election the previous November. There is continued unrest in the Middle East. The leader of North Korea has promised the test of a long-range ballistic missile. The year begins with CO2 atmospheric concentrations higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years.

January 26 - The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists heldt a news conference to say that the group was adjusting the symbolic "doomsday clock" 30 seconds closer to midnight, the closest the clock has been to Doomsday since 1953, after the United States tested its first thermonuclear device, followed months later by the Soviet Union's hydrogen bomb test.

The group stated that in 2016, “the global security landscape darkened as the international community failed to come effectively to grips with humanity’s most pressing existential threats, nuclear weapons and climate change.” The organization also cited the election of US President Donald Trump as a reason to adjust the clock.

April 15 - Emma Morano, the last person born in the 1800's died.

May 4 - Stephen Hawking made the prediction that we have 100 years to colonize a new planet, or die.

August 5 - The United Nations Security Council just agreed to impose further restrictions on North Korean trade. The vote was unanimous, with China joining in.

The year ended with something known as the #metoo hashtag signifying the unprecedented move by women to identify people why they believe sexually assaulted them. It led to the rapid dismissal of many top media and business professionals.

April 11 - North Korean state media warned of a nuclear attack on the United States at any sign of American aggression, as a U.S. Navy strike group headed toward the western Pacific. U.S. President Donald Trump described the naval force as an "armada".

March 9 - The South Korean high court has upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye for her involvement with taking money from Samsung for political favors. Elections are then held in 60 days.

July 29 - North Korea tested another ICBM missile that was expected to have a range long enough to reach Chicago.

July 30 - The United States flew two B-1B bombers over the Korean peninsula in a show of force after recent North Korean missile tests.

August 10 - North Korea threatened to fire 4 missiles into the water nearby Guam. This threat brought about a responsive threat from the United States of "Fire and Fury." Most people believe this to be a threat to use nuclear weapons to counter this threat.

October 3 - After a referendum largely condemned by the Spanish government, and even the King of Spain, announced that 9 October they would announce their independence.

October 27 - Catalonia declares independence from Spain. The Spanish government responded by imposing direct rule over Catalonia. Secessionists in Catalonia faced bitter recriminations from Catalan foes who called the move for nationhood a coup and a historical blunder.

October 28 - The Catalan parliament was dissolved by order of Spain, and new elections were scheduled for Dec. 21

February 12 - A special assembly elected former German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier by an overwhelming majority to be the country's new president.

September 24 - Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives beat their rivals on Sunday to win her a fourth term in an election that will also bring a far-right party into Germany’s parliament for the first time in more than half a century.

January 24 - The British Supreme Court ruled that Parliamentary approval is required before triggering Article 50. Reading out the judgment, Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today rules that the government cannot trigger Article 50 without an act of Parliament authorizing it to do so."

March 29 - Britain begins the Brexit process by sending a letter of intent to the EU government.

May 22 - 22 people are killed and about 50 people are injured when a terrorist bomb is detonated at a Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.

June 8 - Britain holds a general election called by Theresa May.

June 9 - Election results has resulted in a hung parliament with no clear majority for any party. Theresa May, who remains the Prime Minister, has said she will form a government with the backing of the Democratic Unionists.

June 30 - Lawmakers approved same sex marriage.

July 24 - Parents of 11-month old Charlie Gard have discontinued their legal battle to keep their son alive. He has a rare genetic condition known as mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome. While receiving treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital, decisions about his care were taken to various law courts, where a ruling was made that the hospital could lawfully withdraw all treatment save for palliative care. This went against the wishes of his parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates from Bedfont, London. They campaigned to keep him alive on life support and travel to the United States for experimental treatment despite doctors and judges saying it would not help and would cause him "significant harm".

January 9 - The future of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government was uprooted after Martin McGuinness resigned as the region's deputy first minister in protest over the handling of a renewable energy project

March 3 - The pro-British Democratic Unionist Party narrowly remained the largest party after the closest-ever election for the provincial assembly. But surging Irish nationalists Sinn Fein came within one seat of their rivals to deny unionist politicians a majority for the first time since Ireland was partitioned in 1921.

April 8 - Basque militant group ETA effectively ended an armed separatist campaign after almost half a century on Saturday, leading French authorities to the sites where it says its caches of weapons, explosives and ammunition are hidden.

October 1 - Catalonia held a referendum about independence from Spain. Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont says the region has won the right to statehood following the contentious referendum which was marred by violence.

"My government, in the next few days will send the results of today's vote to the Catalan parliament, where the sovereignty of our people lies, so that it can act in accordance with the law of the referendum."

January 25 - The Pope took control of the Knights of Malta lay Catholic order in an extraordinary display of papal power after the Knights' grand master publicly defied Pope Francis in a bitter dispute over condoms.

March 10 - Pope Francis has suggested he would be open to studying whether the Catholic Church should ordain men who are married as priests to help deal with the shortage of clergy in remote areas of the world.

May 26 - Militants in military-style uniforms opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians in central Egypt, killing at least 28 people.

October 20 - At least 52 Egyptian police and conscripts were killed and six more wounded in a gun battle on Friday during a raid on a suspected militant hideout in the western desert.Militants are mostly fighting in remote northern Sinai where the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group pledged allegiance to Islamic State in 2014.

November 24 - 305 people were killed when a mosque in Bir al-Abd in the northern Sinai Peninsula was targeted first by bombs and second gunmen killing those fleeing from the mosque.

November 25 - The Egyptian government launched air attacks against those they felt were responsible.

February 9 - Iranians take to the street chanting "Death to America" and carrying signs of Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and Theresa May.

December - Protests described as the largest public display of discontent since the 2009 Green Movement in Iran, have emerged against a backdrop of rising food and gasoline prices. The protests are calling for the removal of the ruling Ayatollah.

July 14 - Three Arab Israeli gunmen smuggled homemade machine guns into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, then shot and killed two Israeli policemen.

July 21 - Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, the spiritual leader of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Haram al-Sharif, warned that new security measures such as the metal detectors, could lead to an escalation in the decades-long conflict if they were not removed ahead of Friday prayers.

July 24 - Israel has decided to remove the metal detectors at the entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In a telephone call that helped resolve a standoff over a shooting at Israel’s embassy in Amman, Jordan’s King Abdullah II urged Netanyahu to “remove the cause” of the current crisis.

June 20 - Saudi Arabia’s King Salman appointed his 31-year-old son Mohammed Bin Salman to be next in line for the throne.

October 26 - Sophia, an artificial life form from Hanson Robotics, has become a citizen of Saudi Arabia, making her the first artificial life form to become a citizen of any country in the world.

November 4 - The king ousted one of the country’s highest-level royals from power, removing Prince Miteb bin Abdullah as head of the National Guard. He was replaced by Prince Khalid bin Ayyaf al-Muqrin, who had held a senior post with the guard.

April 6 - The US launched 59 Tomahawk Cruise missiles into a Syrian airbase in an apparent retaliation for the use of sarin gas against rebels within Syria. Some say it was used by President Assad while Russia maintains that it was not. In September an investigation by the United Nations determined that sarin gas was indeed used. The Syrian government denies this.

June 11 - Puerto Ricans held a referendum to decide if they wanted to become the 51st State of the United States, move toward independence or keep the status quo as a U.S. Territory. They chose statehood by 97% but with a historically low voter turnout. It's expected that no action will be taken on the result as Puerto Rico has a nearly 50% poverty level and recently declared bankruptcy.

January 9 - The thousand-year-old sequoia tree known as the Pioneer Cabin Tree, fell during heavy storms. This tree was well known as the tree that was hollowed out in the 1800's creating a tunnel to pass through it. This tree was likely a seedling when Charlemagne was conquering Europe.

January 14 - It was announced that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will close after 146 years.

January 20 - Donald J Trump was sworn in as the United States' 45th President. One of his first official acts was to begin the process of rolling back the Affordable Care Act.

August 25 - The eighth named storm, third hurricane, and the first major hurricane of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Harvey developed from a tropical wave to the east of the Lesser Antilles, reaching tropical storm status on August 17. The storm crossed through the Windward Islands on the following day, passing just south of Barbados and later near Saint Vincent. Upon entering the Caribbean Sea, Harvey began to weaken due to moderate wind shear and degenerated into a tropical wave north of Colombia early on August 19. The remnants were monitored for regeneration as it continued west-northwestward across the Caribbean and the Yucatán Peninsula, before redeveloping over the Bay of Campeche on August 23. Harvey then began to rapidly intensify on August 24, regaining tropical storm status and becoming a hurricane later that day. While the storm moved generally northwest, Harvey's intensification phase stalled slightly overnight from August 24–25, however Harvey soon resumed strengthening and became a Category 4 hurricane late on August 25. Hours later, Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas, at peak intensity.

Harvey has caused at least 39 (and counting) confirmed deaths; 1 in Guyana, and 38 in the United States. Catastrophic inland flooding is ongoing in the Greater Houston metropolitan area. FEMA director Brock Long called Harvey the worst disaster in Texas history, and expected the recovery to take many years. Preliminary estimates of economic losses range from $10 billion to $160 billion, with a large portion of losses sustained by uninsured homeowners.

September 17 - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday the U.N. Security Council has run out of options on containing North Korea’s nuclear program and the United States may have to turn the matter over to the Pentagon.

October 1 - A gunman fired into a crowd attending a music concert on the Las Vegas strip, killing 58 people and as more than 500 were injured, partly because of the mass hysteria trying to escape the gunman. ISIS took responsibility saying the gunman converted to Islam.

October 26 - The government released declassified documents related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The government did not release all the documents after pressure from the FBI and CIA. Those documents are scheduled for release after review.

February 9 - A U.S. Appeals court upheld the ruling of a lower court to block the Executive Order that disallows immigrants from 7 primarily Muslim nations. In response, Trump tweeted, "See you in court."

January 25 - In his first week as President, Donald Trump took action to approve controversial oil pipelines, remove funding from foreign NGO's performing abortions, taken action to begin the change or repeal of the Affordable Care Act, set out new policies for immigration, and withdrew from the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement.

January 25 - Patrick Kennedy and three of his top State Department officials resigned unexpectedly. Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond and Ambassador Gentry O. Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Missions, all career foreign service officers

January 27 - The U.S. closed its border to people trying to enter from primarily Muslim nations. The order, covers citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya. This order was later overturned by a Federal Appeals court ruling upholding a lower court order.

February 13 - Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, resigned on Monday night after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

May 9 - President Trump fired FBI Director, James Comey. His reasons were unclear and it started speculation that the President was interfering with Comey's investigation into possible ties with the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016. Trump stated that he fired Comey to "ease" the Russian investigation against him—calling him a "nut job".

June 1 - U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. In accordance with Article 28, as the agreement entered into force in the United States on 4 November 2016, the earliest possible effective withdrawal date for the United States cannot be earlier than 4 November 2020.

July 20 - President Trump has hit a 70 year record low approval rating of 36%. His presidency has been marred by continued investigations into Russian involvment in the 2016 election and the part his party played in this involvement. His executive orders have been seen as mean-spirited, particularly his immigration policies where he said he would get rid of the "bad hombres" but has continued to deport people who are model members of their communities to "set an example." The Republican party has failed to fulfill its campaign promise of repealing and replacing Obama Care. They have vowed simply now to repeal it or let it die. 36 million people are expected to lose health care. The economy, which began its record rise under President Obama has begun to flatten. The President's promise of restoring jobs has also failed with many believing that automation and artificial intelligence has taken jobs that will never come back.

July 21 - Embattled White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, resigned. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will replace Spicer. Anthony Sarramucci will take the role of Communications Director. According to the Washington Post, "The chaos engulfing President Trump and his orbit intensified Friday, as Trump moved to shake up his legal and White House communications teams in response to the widening special counsel probe into his campaign’s possible collusion with the Russian government and its impact on the administration’s stalled legislative agenda."

July 28 - In a late night session, the Republican-led House failed to pass "repeal and replace" for the Affordable Care Act.

July 28 - Reince Priebus resigned as White House chief of staff. He was replaced by John Kelly, secretary of homeland security. Elaine C. Duke, deputy secretary will likely take his place as secretary of homeland security.

July 31 - After posting nude photos of his wife as revenge for divorce filing, Anthony Scaramucci removed as White House communications director, days after he was hired.

August 11 - President Trump threatened Venezuela with military intervention due to its unrecognized constituent assembly and its failing economy where people are left hungry.

August 18 - President Trump got rid of his Chief White House strategist, Steve Bannon.

March 26 - Alexei Navalny, called on people to come to protest in the wake of his allegations that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has amassed vineyards, luxury yachts and lavish mansions worth more than $1 billion. Tens of thousands protested in Moscow and across the country. “Shame, shame,” screamed the schoolchildren. “Shame!” joined in a small group of pensioners. This is Russia's its biggest unsanctioned protests in years.

February 16 - Drought has led to a state of emergency in Bolivia that has reached the 100-day mark. The country has lost nearly half of its glaciers in the last 20 years while the drought has lasted 25 years.

March 30 - The Venezuela’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that dissolved Congress.

April 1- The Venezuela’s Supreme Court reversed its ruling that dissolved Congress after an uproar from its people calling President Maduro a dictator.

May 1 - Venezuela’s increasingly embattled president called for a new constitution as an intensifying protest movement entered a second month with clashes between police and anti-government demonstrators.

May 4 - The protest-related death toll rises to 37 as protests continued in Caracas.

July 30 - Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro defiantly followed through Sunday with his pledge to hold an internationally condemned election for a constituent assembly many have seen to be stacked in his favor. He has a 20% approval rating and the 80$ feel he is trying to take power as a dictator.

July 31 - The U.S. slapped financial sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday after a weekend election that gave the South American country’s ruling party virtually unlimited powers.